Mechanical assets are acquired and retained for different reasons and for varying periods of time. For purposes of this application, the term “mechanical asset” or “asset” means an item of personal property that may be purely mechanical but that may be electromechanical, analog, or digital and/or may include electromechanical, analog, and/or digital components. Mechanical assets may be large in size—such as automobiles, airplanes, construction equipment, engines, spacecraft, tanks and other military equipment, tractors, locomotives or other train cars, and watercraft—or the components for same—such as engines, drive trains and seats. For purposes of this application, mechanical assets may be also relatively smaller in size—such as computer systems and components thereof, furniture, and tools. Mechanical assets are acquired at least initially for their utility in helping to perform a task including acting as a mode of transportation or facilitating construction or repair jobs.
All mechanical assets must be maintained in order that they can continue to operate as originally intended. The amount of maintenance that is needed to keep a mechanical asset in working order varies from asset to asset. However, generally the more the mechanical asset must be used for the original intended utilitarian purpose, the more maintenance is required. Mechanical assets also with more sensitive or complex components and subsystems generally require more maintenance than assets formed from one or more components or that include more durable or simplified subsystems. With time, the maintenance of mechanical assets in general working order becomes more and more challenging. Replacement components of such mechanical assets that may have been widely available—become with time scarce and more difficult to obtain. Salvaging such components from other mechanical assets is often the only way to maintain other mechanical assets. Unless steps are taken to preserve the asset, exposure to environmental conditions—such as the fluctuations in climate, moisture, salt or minerals from the ocean or a sea, and the sun—will cause the condition of the asset to degrade. If left unchecked, the degradation of the asset may in certain cases quickly place the asset in a non-working condition and limit its utilitarian value and value to collectors.
One simple known step taken to preserve a mechanical asset is to shield the asset from complete exposure to environmental conditions. Many systems, products, and methods are known by which a mechanical asset can be shielded in order to preserve the asset. Such shielding can be accomplished simply by positioning the asset under an extension of a building—including, such as under what is known in residential settings as a “car port”. Such a shield protects the asset from at least direct exposure to the sun and precipitation. The shielding of an asset can be accomplished also through the use also of tarpaulins—“tarps”—and other covers. These shields are flexible pieces of material that are at least large enough to fit over and come into contact with the asset to prevent it from being exposed to the sun and to precipitation. Forms of shields include shades or screens—that are placed by or in general contact with the windows of those assets having them—to block sunlight from entering the windowed areas, thereby shielding at least some of the asset from sun damage and the increased temperatures that sunlight causes within the closed spaces defined at least in part by the windows. Protective coatings applied to the upper surface and the under body of assets are used also to shield the components of the asset from direct contact with the environmental elements such as sun, precipitation, and moisture. Liquid components within assets are also shielded from the damage caused by unprotected exposure to the elements through the addition of stabilizing agents to the fluid.
It is clear that such shields are not complete solutions to the problem in that, for the most part, they protect only a portion or limited components of the complete asset from the environmental conditions. For example, car ports typically prevent an asset from being exposed to the direct rays of the sun when overhead or from precipitation falling generally vertically. However, car ports do not protect assets from sun damage caused by the sun when it is not overhead or when it is reflected. Also, car ports do not protect assets from wind blown rain and snow or from the variations in ambient temperature and moisture and wind. More immediate coverings—such as tarpaulins—prevent the asset from being directly exposed to the sun or precipitation but do not prevent the asset from suffering damage due to fluctuations in environmental temperature or moisture conditions. Protective coatings prevent exposure of some but not all the components of the mechanical asset.
More complete solutions that are intended to shield, and thereby preserve mechanical assets are storage facilities. Such storage facilities include those that are a room for storage of a mechanical asset that forms a part of another building that is not intended primarily for such storage. An attached garage is such a facility for the storage of a mechanical asset and is a room within a larger building that is intended as a residence. Another such storage facility is a stand alone building that is used largely solely for the storage of a mechanical asset. For example, such stand alone buildings include a free standing garage, a hanger, or a barn. Another such storage facility is an enclosure within a larger enclosure and to which access may be separately provided. Such a storage facility is commonly known as a storage locker or storage unit.
Most typically, more complete storage facilities are sited to allow easy ingress to and egress of the mechanical asset stored therein. For example, garages are sited so that the cars can be readily driven into and out of the garage and on to the street. Hangers are positioned so that planes can be pulled into and out of the facility after landing or for take off. Barns are located on farms so that the farm equipment such as tractors, combines, or trucks can be readily driven in and out of the facility as needed. Storage lockers or units are positioned in proximity to streets so that patrons can load equipment into or remove equipment out of the lockers or units.
These known storage facilities—because they are formed by walls joined to define a given interior volume of space—do typically shield assets from direct exposure to the sun, wind, precipitation, and the unprotected extremes of the temperature of the outside environment. However, because known storage facilities are formed from fixed walls joined together to form the interior volume, they cannot be resized on demand to efficiently accommodate assets of different sizes and shapes. Furthermore, such storage facilities typically do not allow the environmental conditions within the facilities to be controlled and, for example, altered to prevent more particularized types of degradation of the asset stored therein. For example, known storage facilities do not include systems by which the atmosphere may be selectively filtered to reduce or remove harmful components thereof—such as moisture, salt, or dirt—or to replace some of the components found typically therein with other components that facilitate the preservation of the asset—such as a noble gas—by the creation of a relatively inert environment.
For the above reasons, there is a need for a system and methods by which mechanical assets can be efficiently preserved for extended periods of time. The present invention satisfies this demand.